Dire Straits - Did You Know?
March 25, 2018Music facts, music trivia, interesting stories and much more. Introducing the "Did You Know" page about British rock band, Dire Straits.
Enjoy!
Dire Straits were a British rock band that formed 1977 in London. They consisted of Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). Dire Straits became one of the world's most successful acts, with sales of more 100 million records all over the world.
The sound of Dire Straits was drawn from different musical influences, including folk, jazz and country, though mainly from the blues-rock of J. J. Cale. Many of the band's compositions were melancholic.
Our interesting fact of the day talks about the days prior to formation of the band, and the occupation of the band members before they became to be Dire Straits.
So, before finding fame and fortune with Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler was a teacher and a journalist. One of Knopfler's first assignments as a cub reporter for The Yorkshire Evening Post, was to write the obituary of Jimi Hendrix. as for the other band members, David Knopfler was a social worker, and John Illsley was studying sociology.
According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, Dire Straits have spent more than 1,100 weeks on the UK albums chart, which ranks the band of the fifth spot. Their musical career spanned 15 years, as they decided to split in 1988, then reformed in 1991, and finally disbanded again in 1995 after Mark Knopfler launched his solo career full-time.
Dire Straits won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards (twice for Best British Group), two MTV Video Music Awards, and other music awards. Dire Straits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year (2018).
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The line "I'm tired of making out on the telephone, 'cause you're so far away from me" in Dire Strait's song "So Far Away" refers to the phone-sex lines of the 1980s.
You had phone lines that you could call, phone lines that began with prefixes like 1-800, 1-900, and so on, but you would have been billed an outrageous price per minute.
When calling and using those sex lines, you would find yourself talking to a phone sex worker, listening to an erotic recording, or even on a "party line" socializing with real, actual people.
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The song "Brothers In Arms" by Dire Straits was inspired by the Falklands war, which was going on when Dire Straits lead singer Mark Knopfler wrote the song.
In this song, Mark Knopfler sings about a soldier who is dying on the battlefield, while he is being surrounded by his comrades, who remain by his side as he slips away.
The song is a look at the folly of war and the plight of those who fight them.
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